[De articulis fidei]

person of the Father. The third of the person of the Son. The fourth of the person of the Holy Spirit. The fifth of the effect of creation. The sixth of the effect of justification. The seventh of the effect of reward, in which they include the resurrection and eternal life. And thus, while the aforementioned six articles are divided into three, and the first and sixth are combined into one, they become, according to them, seven articles, nor does it matter for the truth of faith or the avoidance of error how they are distinguished.

Now it remains to consider the articles that pertain to the humanity of Christ, concerning which they also distinguish six articles.

The first of these is concerning the conception and nativity of Christ, according to what is said in Isaiah 7 and is cited in Matthew 1: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." And concerning this, there were many errors. The first was of those saying that Christ was a pure man and that He did not always exist, but took His origin from the Virgin Mary. And this is the error of Carpocrates, and Cerinthus, and Ebion, and Paul of Samosata, and Photinus. Against whom it is said in Romans 8: "From whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed, amen." The second is the error of the Manichaeans, saying that Christ did not have a true body, but a fantastic one. Against which is the fact that the Lord in the end of Luke rebukes the error of His disciples who, troubled and terrified, thought they saw a spirit. And Matthew 14: "The disciples, seeing Him walking upon the sea, were troubled, saying that it is a ghost, and they cried out for fear." Their opinion the Lord removes, saying: "Have confidence, it is I, do not fear." The third is the error of Valentinus, who said that Christ brought a celestial body and assumed nothing from the Virgin, but passed through her as if through a conduit or pipe without any